Jacky Parsons, our Director of Research, spoke on one of our favourite topics at this year’s ESOMAR conference in Nice: extreme consumers. The conference is an annual get-together for members of the market research industry and this year’s theme was ‘inspiration’. At Sense, we find talking to extreme users incredibly inspiring. Nick Graham, our PepsiCo client, joined Jacky on stage to talk about the extremely creative members of the Pepsi Now Network, managed by Sense, who are having such a big influence at corporate HQ.

Going to the edges for inspiration
Together with our friends at PepsiCo Global Beverage Group, we wrote a paper on the value of speaking to extreme consumers. Click here to download the full paper.

In the paper, we show how people with more intense and unusual experiences, attitudes and backgrounds – who we call extreme consumers – can unlock insights that transform the work of marketing and innovation teams, even if your target audience is mainstream.

We describe three types of extreme consumer:

1. The Lover vs the Rejector
This type sits at either extreme of the usage spectrum of your brand or category. Extreme Users have a much higher than average usage profile – in terms of frequency or quantity. Rejectors on the other hand are lapsed users or non-users who have chosen not to engage with your brand.

2. Experts
Don’t think of academics when you read the term ‘expert’. This kind of extreme user has expertise relevant to your brand or category because of the role they play in life, but it’s a lateral connection. So for example, a soldier can be an expert in blisters.

3. Leading-edge Creatives
These people are extreme in terms of their cultural engagement and creativity, and their lifestyles. This is the type of ‘extreme consumer’ we have involved in the Pepsi Now Network during 2014. They’re the opposite of a conventional research panel – they’re muses who guide internal teams and shape the thinking of external creative agencies.

As Anna Peters reported on the Esomar site: ‘For Nick Graham (PepsiCo USA) this has been the first time in his career where “agencies have been begging him” to speak to consumers. In short, this approach has resulted in an organisational shift – where the function of Market Research has been repositioned from reporting findings, to inspiring solutions.’

The Pepsi Now Network demonstrates that the value of any approach involving extreme users goes beyond the commercial benefits to the business – it makes a qualitative difference for everyone involved in the journey. The research process becomes more interesting and rewarding for everyone involved, whether they are participants, recruiters, agency teams or client teams – as a genuine human connection is forged between people and fresh insights are discovered. And that’s what inspires us, as much as the new ideas ignited by the interactions.